Sta. Lucia expects higher profits from housing unit

MANILA, Philippines - Real estate developer Sta. Lucia Land Inc. (SLI) is bullish that its housing construction subsidiary will help drive the company’s profits higher in the coming years.

SLI formed last year Sta. Lucia Homes, a wholly-owned contractor company with the sole purpose of offering construction services to the Sta. Lucia Group’s over 120,000 lot buyers over the last 40 years.

 “Majority of our lot buyers do have the intention and the initial capital to construct houses, but has limited access to contractors, difficulty in securing the necessary business permits and little or no access to bank financing” said David M. Dela Cruz, SLI and Sta. Lucia Homes executive vice president and chief finance officer.

Dela Cruz said the property firm has seen the gap and decided to offer its buyers a reliable contractor to address all the buyers’ construction, documentation and financing needs.

“We estimate that we have over 60,000 lots buyers nationwide that have yet to build houses,” said Ria Rivadeneira, Sta. Lucia Homes general manager.

 “Just to serve five percent of this market or to construct 3,000 houses is already a challenge. Although arguably not a captive market, these lots were sold by our agents who are still in touch with these buyers. All we need to do is to reestablish these relationships”, Rivadeneira added.

Seeing how house construction could be a profitable venture, SLI said Sta. Lucia Homes is expected to be a big boost to the company’s financial performance.

Prior to the incorporation of Sta. Lucia Homes, SLI’s business model has been built on selling only lots with buyers having their decision as to when will they construct their houses using their own contractors.

 “Sta. Lucia Homes is the company’s contribution to the country’s estimated housing backlog of 3.9 million houses which benefits not just our current customers but the communities within the area as property values will increase once houses are constructed and communities are developed,” SLI said.